Has your eating disorder taken over your life? Do you miss what your life was like before you developed an eating disorder? Do you long for a fulfilling life, free from an eating disorder?
For a long time, our eating disorder may have consumed our life and robbed us of many opportunities and experiences. We may feel like our eating disorder defines us, or that it is a significant part of our identity. It might be time to break free and take our life back from the eating disorder.
Eating Disorder Recovery
Recovering from an eating disorder requires a lot of strength, courage, and determination. The recovery process can be difficult and overwhelming, so it is important to nurture hope and motivation.
Eating disorder recovery involves more than just restoring weight and changing eating behaviours. It involves understanding, nurturing, respecting, and valuing ourselves so we can experience self-love. It also involves finding purpose and meaning in life. In this blog post, we will discuss several tips to move forward and take our lives back from an eating disorder.
Find a Support System for Eating Disorder Recovery
It is crucial to develop and maintain a support system. Sharing information about ourselves and connecting with others can aid in recovery. We can’t take our lives back alone.
Most individuals find it difficult to reach out – this is normal. Although it is important to be independent, it is okay to ask for help from others in times of need. Recovering from an eating disorder is an extremely important time to lean on others and ask for help, though it may feel difficult at times. Staying connected with those who are supportive and nurturing can help during difficult situations.
Our support systems can consist of family members, friends, and clinicians, including a Registered Dietitian or Registered therapist. We should also try to reduce our interactions with people who negatively impact our feelings about our body, weight, or appearance. Some influences in our lives may cause damage or make us feel unnecessarily worse about ourselves. It may be beneficial to avoid social media accounts or television shows that make us feel this way.
Find Enjoyable Hobbies
Participating in activities that we enjoyed before we developed an eating disorder can also help us to take our lives back. Activities may include painting, scrapbooking, hiking, reading, dancing, volunteering in the community, joining a club, gardening, creating cards or letters for others, doing a puzzle, knitting, and more. It is beneficial for us to focus on activities that bring us joy and to leave behind any activities that we feel forced to engage in or that we do not enjoy.
We could also try a new activity and see how it makes us feel. When we try a new activity, or an activity we used to participate in, it may feel intimidating or anxiety-provoking, especially if it’s an athletic activity. We may wonder how our bodies will look or feel during the activity. It’s important that we recognize that these thoughts are the eating disorder talking and we should still partake in the activity.
Take Time for Yourself
We should set aside time to practice self-care each day. Taking time to relax helps to reduce stress and anxiety and can help in eating disorder recovery. Relaxation techniques can include deep breathing, thinking of calming scenes, meditation, or yoga. Other relaxing activities can include painting, writing, taking a bath, or listening to music.
Find an Identity Apart From an Eating Disorder
When participating in fun activities and taking time for self-care, we can try to think about what brings enjoyment to our lives, and we can focus on qualities that make us unique. For a long time, an eating disorder may have felt like part of our identity, but now it’s time to focus on our identity apart from an eating disorder.
It’s time to think about what makes us amazing individuals, including our interests, talents, and gifts. Stay away from negative self-talk, and remember that what makes us unique or different are our greatest strengths. It can be beneficial to write at least one thing that we like about ourselves or that makes us unique in our journals each day. We should focus on the positive aspects of ourselves that are not related to appearance. When negative thoughts arise, it can be helpful to reflect on these positive aspects that we have documented in our journals to help us remember our great qualities. Valuing ourselves is one way to take our lives back from an eating disorder.
Following a Meal Plan in Eating Disorder Recovery
Additionally, with help from our healthcare teams and a Registered Dietitian, we can begin to nourish ourselves more regularly by following our provided meal plans. This could look like eating three meals a day with snacks and eating approximately every three hours, also known as mechanical eating. Following a schedule and having some structure will assist in recovery.
Physical Activity and Eating Disorders
Moderate physical activity can be beneficial if we are in the right place to do so and are engaging in movement that brings us enjoyment. Receiving an adequate amount of sleep each night can also be beneficial.
What is Eating Disorder Relapse?
Based on the Transtheoretical Model of Change (often referred to as the Stages of Change), we can complete treatment and move on to the maintenance stage. In this stage, we are practicing new behaviours, using healthy coping skills, and starting to live our lives fully. It is important to note that setbacks are common for those recovering from an eating disorder.
The maintenance stage also involves relapse prevention, as relapse can occur in those recovering from an eating disorder. Relapse is when someone recovering from an eating disorder redevelops disordered eating patterns and thoughts. Relapse can occur when a stressful event occurs in our lives, such as moving away from home, starting a new job, dealing with financial struggles, or experiencing infertility.
How to Prevent Eating Disorder Relapse
To prevent eating disorder relapse, identifying what triggers our eating disorders is key. A trigger can consist of anything that may cause disordered eating behaviours to resurface. Triggers can come from anywhere and are different from one person to the next.
Trying to identify our triggers can help us to know when to not partake in certain activities. To do this, we may try to reflect on times when we’ve felt the urge to engage in disordered eating behaviours. Sometimes, a previous traumatic experience may be triggering. Making our support systems aware of our triggers is a good idea, as they will keep these triggers in mind when planning activities that involve us.
It can also be helpful to write down our triggers and come up with positive coping strategies for overcoming these triggers. Coping strategies can include deep breathing, meditation, using our five senses to re-ground ourselves, challenging negative thoughts with positive ones, calling a loved one, taking a walk, or writing in a journal.
Eating Disorder Relapse Warning Signs
Identifying warning signs is also an essential step for preventing relapse. Common warning signs include frequently trying to eat alone, avoiding meals, increased anxiety or depression, feeling shame or guilt after eating, and hiding information from our support systems. Warning signs can help us to identify when we are experiencing a relapse and should reach out for help. If we begin to notice any of these warning signs, we must talk to our support systems and lean on them when we need to.
Flexibility in Recovery
There may be times when we want to numb negative feelings with old habits. Flexibility plays an important role during recovery. The world is full of surprises that can catch us off guard. There are times when we may be triggered or experience stress unexpectedly. If we do happen to relapse, it’s important to remember to not be too hard on ourselves. Instead of dwelling on past experiences, we can learn from each experience (good or bad) and keep a positive perspective to move forward.
Eating Disorder Recovery is Usually Not Linear
We should keep in mind that recovering from an eating disorder and attempting to take our lives back can be a very uncomfortable process. It is important to try and keep going despite feeling uncomfortable physically, mentally, or socially. We can hold onto hope that one day we will feel comfortable.
Remember that taking our lives back from an eating disorder can be a long process and doesn’t happen overnight, or even in a week or a month. There is no set time for recovery. The time it takes to recover is different for everyone, so we should not compare ourselves to others. It is important to set small goals and be patient.
Although we may want our lives to be the way that they were before the development of an eating disorder, this may not always be realistic. When treatment ends, it’s time to overcome challenges independently. During this transition, it is normal to feel overwhelmed, anxious, as well as resistant to further changes. However, it is important to not give in to eating disorder behaviours during this shift, as recovery is imperative for future health and well-being. Throughout the recovery process, we will learn ways to rebuild our lives with a new mindset.
No one is perfect, and try not to expect life to be perfect either. Everyone experiences a different journey throughout recovery, and there will never be perfection in this experience. We must try not to become discouraged when experiencing a setback. Each setback helps us to grow as individuals.
Throughout life, we will be faced with many obstacles, and we will need to stay positive, strong, and resilient. We can’t let an eating disorder define us. By staying focused on making our journeys through life positive, we can overcome our fears and take back our lives from an eating disorder.
Let Us Help You Take Your Life Back
If you want to take your life back from an eating disorder and wish to talk to someone, book a free consultation call with one of our Team Leads below. Let’s navigate recovery together.
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